FOREST AND STREAM: 



313 



udnlaU»g wooded bills, interspersed -with cottages and 



,s and there are ruffed grouse and deer in the woods and 



t'baffl and muscalunge in the waters. 



II Creek, one mile from Charlevoix, and Deer, Boyne and 



rivers, near the head of the lake, are fine trout streams, 



lining a few grtyling. At the mouth of both the Boyne 



>n are comfortable inns, with boats to let for fish- 



a nd shooting parties. Charlevoix itself occupies 



at romantic situation, as our description shows. A por- 



of the town, including the hotel, covers the crown of the 



wlnle possibly the greater area is laid out on a natural 



■an that extends from the little- lake to the great outer 



,ake Michigan. The business part extends in a 



along the side of Round Lake, and is reached by 



a wbridge across the outlet. Cooler's Hotel,. called the 



ity House,'' is comfortable, but there is a grand 



for a stock company to build a first-clans house 



of the cliff, from which the view is sweeping and 



; v diversified. Prom Charlevoix a little steam yacht 



j twice a day to the mouth of the Jordan, at the head of 



2 Ldke, and it is a novel sight to many visitors to see her 



iy, loaded with excursionists and towing a dozen 



•esiiud boats astern, en route for the approved fishing 



\ lively little craft is the " Jennie Sutton," doing 



ten and twelve miles an hour without much ado. or waste 



Bleam. 



•fiend Turner had brought with him from -Grand Rapids, 

 rail and steamer, his Bond (iron-sectional) boat, which he 

 I so improved by the construction of a transverse section, 

 ,e used as a "well," that it w,as completely adapted to the 

 iriomentsof the angler. This section was bored with 

 cs beneath the- water line, so that the fish in it could he 

 it alive any given time ; and while it lengthened the boat 

 ie sixteen inches, it did not materially change her lines, 

 he Bond boat pretty thoroughly for several years, 



thereof in presenting them to the fish. Diplomacy depends 

 largely upon address, and Mr. Turner was plenipotentiary in 

 all respects. Hamilton Fish himself never did better at the 

 court of St. James, though it is not easy to measure 

 the talents of the two gentlemen by the same scale. " I've re- 

 ceived from Tsaak Walton and the chosen disciples the most 

 approved instructions for dressing baits, but I am free to say 

 that I have watched my comrade with an interest that could 

 be born only of new developments. One day I had fished the 

 lower stream with flies and taken eighteen fair trout, but 

 none large. I was satisfied with the result until I saw A. B.'s 

 returns. The well in his boat was alive with trout ! I think 

 he had some eighty in all. I marveled and congratulated, 

 and appreciated the graceful consideration which prompted 

 hitn to account for the difference in our catches by explaining 

 that fly-fishing in August is not fly fishing in June. If trout 

 are not rising for their food, trailing artificial flies upon the 

 surface are not the tactics to employ. If they stick to the 

 bottom we must send our lures lo the bottom for them. The 

 two methods of fishing are as different as can well be imagined. 

 However, I prefer the long-range practice to manoeuvres at 

 close quarters, though I have none the less respect for such 

 admirable tacticians as brother Turner. 



One day when returning from a viBitup stream where I had 

 indifferent success with all manner of baits, artificial and na- 

 tural, I unexpectedly overhauled him and his boatman at a 

 bend of the river, and caught him in the act of pitching his 

 hook under a tangle of roots. His bait looked as big as a bob, 

 and it went down with a plump into the water that showed 

 his line to be heavily shotted. He had scarcely six feet of 

 line out, and he handled his rod as a fencing-master does his 

 foil. First he swayed it gently to thcright, then he moved it 

 to the left a little ; then he raised the tip a trifle ; and Anally, 

 giving a smart twitch, he lifted but a one-pound trout, and 



' well" in his boat. A 



tossed it dexterously into the open 

 . jurinced that it is better adapted for rough work in splash and commotion followed which showed that his box 

 broken and brush-choked water of forest streams than any was we ll filled. In a twinkling his hook was in again at the 

 ir craft— simply becau se it is of iron, and because it is < sa me spot, and he pulled out another big trout. Seven more 



(!o conveniently portable by dividing it into sections. Mr. 

 jot's fish-well also makes a capital and secure locker for 

 icellaneous articles while the boat is«being transhipped from 



;at by land. 

 Tiic upper portions of the Boyne and Jordan rivers, and, 

 leetl, of all the Michigan forest streams, are filled with 

 m uud crossed by fallen trees, which make successful nav- 

 ,1'toa a problem, to be solved only by tact and much prac- 

 t In angling, the streams are invariably fished from boats, 

 the banks are a tangle, and passage through the woods to 

 an la almost impracticable; it is possible to wade, but by 

 omfortable to do so. Streams are always fished 

 jlraft.d'easona that will become obvious enough when the 

 {let reaches the ground. With a man competent to handle 

 ■ bojtt this method of fishing is greatly to be preferred. It 

 j be made even luxurious. One can scarcely conceive a 

 hie stream than the Jordan for this kind of work. 

 ir the first two miles after entering its mouth, the channel 

 Vii through a rush and grass meadow, and the current, is 

 Diparatively sluggish. As the ridge or height of land is ap- 

 jscued, it becomes very rapid and much broken. For ten 

 ks it is amply wdde for good fly-casting, and sufficiently 

 vual of overarching and protruding branches and brush. Its 

 iters are four feet deep, clear as crystal, ice-cold and so de- 

 Ijus that one is inclined to drink immoderately. I think 

 It an old toper might learn to prefer it to beer after he he- 

 me accustomed to it. By making headquarters at Web- 

 tt's, a neat log-house about five miles from its mouth, one 

 u fish the upper and lower waters to the best advantage. 

 Jtlung can be more delightful than a week's sojourn at this 

 tie clearing in the woods, a half mile back from the river. 

 um the rustic bridge that crosses the stream just at this 

 ant, the path winds up a moderate hill through a hardwood 

 d [line forest, in which large sugar maples are frequent, and 

 h visitor no sooner emerges and catches a glimpse of the pre- 

 than he feels that neatness, comfort and good cheer 

 fell within. The surmise is speedily strengthened by abun- 

 ttt testimony. The clearing contains hut a few acres, and 

 B adjacent woods harbor numerous deer and bears. Some- 

 nes the latter are obtrusive. One dark night at ten o'clock 



I hard the bawling of a calf which had been tied near the 

 gfl Of the clearing where the well-worn path leads up from 

 e river. The appeal roused the inmates of the house, who 

 shea to the rescue with bull's-eye lantern, ax and gun. 

 lie calf was found unhurt, and apparently grateful. This 

 lien was rewoted and nothing more; but the retreat of the 

 edacious bear from his vicinity had been apparently as sum- 



poleon's froji Mos-eoio. Not a grease-spot remain- 

 to iudicate where trouble had been so near Bruin. His es- 



irtunate— for him. More serious ails have often 

 eu drawn from the wood, and harder to bear. 

 In new countries like this earthworms have scarcely had 

 Ue to acclimatize or domiciliate. The angler, therefore, 



II ilQt depend on "wuins" for bait. Neither-is itpractica- 

 5 for him to pursue the festive grasshopper with bated 

 eatli, These insects do not forage much in these parts— at 

 st, they have not for ages. Nevertheless, the woods fur- 

 li abundant materials for lures, and the sportsman needs 

 y take his gun and knock over a chance rab- 

 i squirrel, or pigeon to obtain all that he de- 

 84 in utilizing baits of meat, much ingenuity is required, 



1 I've no doubt that the marvelous success of my com- 

 "ion, A.. B. Turner, was as much due to his contrivances 

 ui'.'ir preparation as it was to his skillful manipulation 



followed ! By the way, did you ever try to pitch trout at a 

 mark ? To become expert requires considerable practice. H 

 you are proficient at quoits, or have learned in the rudimentary 

 school where pennies are used, you may succeed in to^siug 

 fish into your basket and not miss once. "But not otherwise, 

 at first. When Brother Turner had emptied his trout placer, 

 I drew my boat along side of his and was instructed in the art 

 of baiting a hook. Cutting the pectoral fin from a trout of 

 medium size, he tied it on the shank of his hook in such a way 

 that it looked much like an artificial fly with wings outspread. 

 Nest he cut a considerable lump of red squirrel meat, and 

 thrust the point of the hook into it until no part was exposed 

 and tied it on. When completed the contrivance made a very 

 respectable sort of a bug. It certainly looked tempting, and 

 was well calculated to impose upon the credulity of a trout. 

 He Baid they would take this when all other lures failed. 

 Presently we dropped town stream a little, and in a twinkling 

 he took another big fish. He seemed to capture them without 

 much persuasion, I confessed my surprise at bis success, 

 which seemed to rest on the following points: First, the 

 quality and make-up of the bait, which he would spend many 

 minutes in preparing ; second, shotting the line heavily, so 

 that it would sink quickly and not be drawn by the current 

 away from the place which he. wished to fish ; third, getting 

 as nearly over the spot as possible and keeping so quiet as not 

 to alarm the fish; fourth, manipulating the bait so as to at- 

 tract attention, and striking so as to hook the fish when he 

 bites ; fifth, manipulating so as not to entangle the line in the 

 roots before or after the fish is on the hook. Beyond these 

 there seems to be a quickness of sight in detecting chance 

 movements of the fish in the water, as well as an intuitive per- 

 ception of the precise spots where they He. Evidently most 

 anglers fail of success because they first let the current carry 

 the bait astray^ and afterward alarm the fish by their move- 

 ments in endeavoring to place the bait right. In a well stocked 

 stream like the Jordan, where probably 30,000 fish were taken 

 the past season, every suitable place is more likely than not to 

 hold an occupant ; and if the angler does not secure him, it is 

 because he has alarmed him by the awkwardness of his move- 

 ments, or else has not put the bait where the fish can see it. 

 * I cannot see how the natural resources of a river like the 

 Jordan can compensate for so great and constant a drain upon 

 them as has been made within the past four years. If the 

 stream shall remain prolific for some time to come, unless it 

 be artificially stocked, it will be only because the choked con- 

 dition of the upper waters by logs and rubbish affords a sure 

 protection against persistent and improvident fishing. 



Some few years ago grayling were very abundant in the 

 Jordan, and several dozen was a fair day's catch ; now they 

 are seldom seen. The first one I had upon my hook afforded 

 a new sensation indeed. His moods and motions were so ca- 

 pricious and so different from those of other game fish I had 

 handled that I awaited each new development with the inter- 

 est of one who watches for the denouement of a drama, or the 

 anxiety of a physician who studies the diagnosis of a disease. 

 To me it was the reading of a page in the romance of the New 

 World, which I had long desired to open. What Back and 

 Maken'zie had studied in the Arctic circle j what more recent 

 ichthyologists had supposed existed only in tradition ; what 

 to Parker and Fitzhugh afterward became a discovery, was 

 presented to me at last as a living reality. All the glories of 

 dark and brilliant coloring which had made thymallm siguifer 

 famous among the game fish of Europe was now reproduced 

 and intensified here in his western kinsman, ihymaUut lri< 



color, the beautiful creature which struggled at the end of my 

 line with many a leap and erratic plunge. I took my first 

 grayling by no accident. I had laid my plans methodically . 

 for his capture. When I ascended the Jordan my boatman 

 pointed out to me deep holes scooped out in the Eand in mid 

 stream where these fish are wont to lie, and after long and 

 patient examination of many such basins, I saw at last my 

 specimea lying motionless, head up stream, glistening like a 

 sunbeam on the sand. I could have taken him there and 

 then with worms, the boatman Baid, but after a brief contem- 

 plation of the pretty object, I pushed on further, feeling as- 

 sured that he would rise to my fly upon return. One other 

 fish I saw still further up the stream, and him I marked also. 

 Finally, when I was fully prepared with the finest tackle my 

 kit afforded, and had bent upon my leader the black and yel- 

 low fly which I had been told was killing, I drifted cautiously 

 down toward the pool, sitting in the bow, and the boatman 

 holding steadily with his setting pole at the stern. With the 

 longest and most delicate cast I could conveniently command, 

 I crossed the surface of the silent water once, twice and 

 thrice, and at the third cast raised him. He shot from the 

 bottom like a silver shaft, fastening firmly on the hook, and 

 then dove with a vim that bent my rod into a graceful curve. 

 Then, quick as a flash, the instant he felt himself checked, he 

 leaped clear of the surface, his splendid dorsal stiff with nerve 

 and radiant with many hues that seemed reflected in the 

 drops that quivered from it. Down he went again, taking 

 line as he ran ; then up and out into the air once more, 

 a foot above the surface of the water, and back to his 

 element with an activity that no trout ever showed, 

 and startling for its display and continuation. I had 

 him in hand for several minutes, but landed him as soon as 

 possible for fear of losing him. The instant I placed him in 

 the well he became quiet, and scarcely betrayed a sign of fear. 

 My second fish I hooked as surely, and the like manoeuvres 

 followed, but I was in no haste to land him. I deliberately 

 studied his play, aed carefully no, ed every movement. At last 

 he was placed beside his comrade in the well, and a beautiful 

 pair they appeared, with their mild, gentle eyes and trans- 

 lucent dorsals, no longer rigid, but waving gracefully over 

 their backs, half erect, like plumes upon a bonnet. Sunlight 

 falling upon their brilliant and matchless colors lighted them 

 up with a glow which the dolphin might have envied. It 

 seemed to be a sin to rob the river of this remnant of its fairy 

 denizens. I believe that few remain in the strewn. Yet there 

 are other rivers where they abound, and abundance makes the 

 choicest objects seem common. So, other anglers will take 

 them by the hundred, as I have seen them taken, until at last 

 the streams will all be depleted and the bereft places will 

 know them no more. I agree with Fitzhugh, Norris, Milner 

 and Mather, that the play of the grayling is incomparable 

 with that of any other fish of its weight and inches. 



To recouut our many experiences of a pleasant week upon 

 the Jordan would fill a lengthy chapter. The fabric I weave 

 from the memory thereof I would fain unravel, like Penelope, 

 that I might weave it over again, so few are the delightful 

 episodes of this present life ; but Ulysses must return from his 

 wanderings to his vulgar mutton, and so I stop the loom here- 

 with. There are deer tracks along the shores of the grassy 

 islands in the upper stream which I would like to trace to 

 favorite haunts on the hardwood ridge. I could write of the 

 coveys of grouse we flushed in the thickets ; of the bass and 

 pike we caught in Pine Lake ; of the jolly trips we made on 

 the "Jennie Sutton," and of our cruises in open boat along 

 shore. Perhaps a repetition of our enjoyment is in store for 

 a future vacation. Quien saoe? If not for us we hope it re- 

 mains for many of our readers. For the present we bid adieu 

 to the sparkling waters of the Jordan, the comfortable home 

 at Mrs. Webster's, and taking a hasty pull down stream, join 

 the steamer in waiting to take our boat in tow, and return to 

 Charlevoix, where we shall again board the Van Eaalte, and 

 pursue our journey to Torch Lake and its adjacent waters. 



Hallook. 



GAME PROTECTION. 



* About Fyke Nets on the Jekset Coast. — The follow- 

 ing correspondence will doubtlessly be interesting to those 

 who are desirous of shaping legislative action toward prevent- 

 ing the wasteful destruction of fish on our coasts : 



New York, Oct. 28, 1STT. 

 Mb. K. W. Kinzbt, Ashley Bouse, Barmgat Inlet, yew Jersey : 



Dear Sir— Your name lias been frequently mentioned this Jaat sum- 

 mer in Fokest anu Stream, and more particularly in a recent number of 

 that journal, in connection with a deterniiuatioa to put a stop lonet-fish- 

 ing iU Barnegat Bay. I have been requested to communicate With you 

 on behalf of the Excelsior Fishing Olub, located at Huguenot, Staten 

 Island, upon the subject, It being believed that those Interested in the 

 protection of game sea fish for sporting purposes should act intelligent- 

 l y, an d, so far as may be necessary, in unison, in order that angling with 

 rod and reel shall remain a practical aud successful sport. 



Early last spring fykes, large and small, aud pounds runnrhg a half 

 mile from land, were set with two and one-half inch meshes, all along 

 the Staten Island shores of Earltan Bay, including Prince's Bay, and we 

 were Informed that many of them were owned by New Jersey fisher- 

 men, who had been drivenfrom that State by hostile legislation. Weafc- 

 flsh were oaptured by these nets long before they would lake the hook. 

 The flshiug season began with us this year about the middle of Augusf, 

 when the undersigned, anion,; others, took several large Ash in shore 

 wit H a rod, two or three of which contained the roe. So that it would 

 seem that weakflshruu up in our waters as they grow warm, for the 

 purpose of spawning, and that until the spawniug season is over they 

 will not bite at a hoofe. 



The damage, therefore, which is done by these nets to the fish pro- 

 duet cannot be estimated ; and when in addition it is remembered that 

 of the eggs deposited but a comparatively smalt number are Batched, 

 ana that of those hatched many are deal ti 



